PKR says Papa Gomo ‘panicking’, stands by allegations

BY CLARA CHOOI
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Published: 23 March 2013 6:48 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 – PKR will stand by its allegations against pro-Umno blogger Papa Gomo, strategy director Rafizi Ramli said today, adding a warning that the party will soon reveal more evidence to prove the identity of the man behind the controversial blog.

Rafizi (picture) insisted that the man he had named yesterday as Papa Gomo, Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, is indeed the blogger, and that the latter was formerly a policeman convicted of corruption and even a “phantom voter” with dual registration in the electoral roll.

The PKR leader also appeared to brush aside the denial by a man claiming to be Wan Muhammad Azri who told Malay daily Sinar Harian on SMS that he was not Papa Gomo as claimed, but a chief executive of a media firm.

“Whatever it is, he is panicking,” Rafizi told The Malaysian Insider on WhatsApp this evening.

“All he can do now is deny he is the person, but this will drag and more evidence will come forward to prove otherwise,” he added, ending his sentence with a smiley-faced emoticon.

Rafizi said that PKR will soon reveal more evidence to prove that Wan Muhammad Azri operates the controversial www.papagomo.com website, a blog largely dedicated to discrediting the federal opposition.

“We are building up a case against him ...” Rafizi added in another message. “... and its a matter of time.”

To back his claim, the politician pointed out that the Election Commission (EC) had “quietly” removed one of Wan Muhammad Azri’s voter registration from its records this morning.

The one removed was the blogger’s police data which, according to Rafizi, had him registered as a voter in Ampang when he was still a serving as a traffic policeman.

“EC has removed the police data. So that quietly confirms that it’s the same person, that’s why his expired postal vote is removed,” Rafizi said.

Earlier today, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof confirmed the existence of such dual registrations in the commission’s records but gave his assurance that in Election 2013, it would be impossible for any individual to vote twice due to the use of the indelible ink.

Abdul Aziz also said the polls regulator and the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) are still investigating Rafizi’s allegations against Wan Muhammad.

Debate over Papa Gomo’s background surface earlier this week after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim filed a RM100 million suit against the blogger for allegedly posting false photographs of him from a fake sex video on his website.

In the statement of claim, the blogger was identified as Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, with a civilian IC number and an address within the Wangsa Maju constituency that Rafizi had referred to. No police IC number was mentioned in that document.

Rafizi held a press conference yesterday to reveal the blogger’s background, citing records from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that detail the corruption case that the latter was allegedly convicted of previously and information from the EC’s database.

Anwar’s lawyer N. Surendran had on Tuesday alleged that Papa Gomo has “close ties” with Umno, while also saying that the photographs are fake and were used by Anwar’s political enemies to tarnish the opposition leader’s image ahead of Election 2013.

But despite the allegations, Papa Gomo has continued to update his blog, even alleging last night that one of PKR’s “hired thugs” had attacked him in Segambut, leaving him with a five-stitch wound.

Please note that you must sign up with disqus.com before commenting. And, please refrain from comments of a racist, sexist, personal, vulgar or derogatory nature and note that comments can be edited, rewritten for clarity or to avoid questionable issues. As comments are moderated, they may not appear immediately or even on the same day you posted them. We also reserve the right to delete off-topic comments